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If you're someone who's been around this game for a while, or simply have been reading my stuff, by now you know I like making Maelstrom builds. I've made multiple for each ship. So when someone asked me to make a tier list, I simply couldn't say no. While I'm by no means the ultimate authority, I hope these insights might show you where certain players get there success, and how you can too!



Here's the list. Higher and further left is better.


We'll start at the bottom, and work our way up.

Just Wraith. I.... yeah. Sorry. When initially released, the high knockback would have likely put it in A or S, because even though TTK is very long, they could never reach you (I managed to get one as a Thunderhead). This obviously had to be nerfed, and when it did it kinda made the ship not terribly useful. There are a lot of cool things you can do with Wraith! High crits, boarding/armor resist, it's a very slippery ship. But I’ve kind of made it a game to kill them while ghostly, whether by rams, boards, burns, mines… It’s gotten to the point where if you die to a Wraith, usually it means you've done something wrong.

Nothing here. Wraith isn’t good enough and Bloodfin isn’t bad enough.

For those of you who play TF2, this is equivalent to a w+m1 pyro. Can be very successful if people just don't know how to handle it, but it's not particularly suited to countering anyone specifically or being extremely good at something. Great cannons, decent speed and maneuverability, good for a hefty fight. It's a good rammer, but as a generalist frigate it's not the absolute best (you can have better luck on a battleship with their low ramming thresholds). There are a good number of ways things can go wrong on Bloodfin, so it's in C.

I struggled with this one a lot, because I like playing as a bear. Someone gets on the wrong side of a Thunderhead and suddenly they’re fighting for your life. However, if they have methods for direct hull damage (boarding and burning), it often ruins your day. Sacrificing a mate for hull means you're skimping on cannons/TTK, or armor (which you should upgrade to avail yourself of the high base). These trade-offs, and inability to handle as large a variety of enemies with a single build makes it B.

This ship has a lot of guns at high range, and decent durability. But it's easy to enter panic mode if anyone gets close. If they have enough durability to shrug off a broadside or two, often your low maneuverability will betray you. Great ship, just not quite worthy of A tier. There are a good many counters, not the least of which is Gorger.

This was one of the hardest choices. Gorger is the single force that knocks about a third of the ships down a tier. If they don’t run any boarding defense, they’re in for a beating. This ship has terrorized the seas so much that it always has to be accounted for when building any ship. It secures boarding kills faster than many iron shot builds can. But, when interrupted or caught in a brawl, this ship can’t always handle it. Knockback and burning and chain shot are all big issues for Gorger, and keeps it just out of A.

Ashborne characterizes this tier, I would say--it’s a quintessential A. Solid ship. Amazing firepower. This packs the kind of brute force and speed needed to successfully challenge the durability builds found in S tier. But the issue of low armor in the fore and aft can cause a swift death when hit wrong, and you don’t quite have the mobility of Cinder to simply dodge rams and boards all the time.

Notorious for the quickest kills around, this is the farmer’s choice. You want to get 12 kills? This is the one. Quick crits melt ships, using great speed and turning. Not to mention, full health on kills! What keeps it out of S is much the same stuff that Gorger has to deal with. While you’re superior close-up and with iron shot, repeat boarding can easily overwhelm and kill you.

Cinder is a skillful sloop. It has quite a reputation, and similar to Gorger, just about every ship has to keep in mind the possibility of a Cinder player being present. Great cannons, unparalleled mobility, and a “catch me if you can” playstyle that leaves many ships frustrated. Before Undead, I likely would have put it in S tier. However, there now are simply too many ways to catch this ship, so it makes for prey too often to be placed there.

This bad boy buries ships alive, leaving them to suffocate. You can fight it for a long time, only to find dishearteningly little progress made. With many captain and hull options, this is a versatile battleship that’s great in many situations. What primarily stops it from entering S tier: Gorger. Most other ships (even Tidebreaker!) it has a way of handling.

Now we get to the crazy ones. S tier is for the ships with builds that have no hard counters. You can queue for PvP and enter confident in your ability to win, no matter who else shows up.

Stormanchor has high base stats. Any upgrades you do will be immensely powerful. The sheer amount of hull and armor to work with allows you to outlast many, MANY ships. You can only be attacked by brute force, and you’re built to handle those. There’s enough crew to wear a Gorger down by the time they’re ready to go for the kill. Ramming, Captain’s Tricks, and rotating cannons in tandem all allow you to maximize your time with this bulk. The builds are just so successful it belongs in S.

I almost don’t need to write anything. If you haven’t had the privilege of being sunk by one of these yet, you’re in for a treat. Tidebreaker’s unparalleled captain cooldowns with the powerful Dwarf abilities means adversaries have three options: be killed at range by torpedoes, have no options to approach due to a minefield, or suffer a frustrating death as Ledd’s shield undoes their good work and supplies nigh-invulnerability. This is the sloop meant to handle any situation, with evasion and great durability.

Undertow is the top of S tier, for a few reasons. First, it has the highest damage resistance possible, making it easy to underestimate how much work really needs to be done. Even if you account for it, a booned-up Undertow is a fearsome sight. It’s one of the few ways to scare a Tidebreaker. Second, this durability is paired with extremely high damage output. It hits like a truck, plowing through quadrants like Ashborne or Cleaver (sometimes faster by the passive) and regenerating armor by inflicting damage. Even if you only have a few boons, you can just kill a high-value target with an extra broadside and take theirs. Add the smothering abilities from captains, high crew, good boarding range… It’s a frighteningly lethal combo. Slow? Yeah. But it sure is steady. There are very few ways to go about fighting this ship.